Qorwyn Drumm
Qorwyn Drumm is the current Lord of Old Wyk and head of House Drumm. Early Life Qorwyn was born in 261 AA, son of Lord Harmund Drumm of Old Wyk and Lady Iona Orkwood. From an early age, Qorwyn was a bold and adventurous child, often running away from the castle and exploring the many secret coves and grottos of Old Wyk. One of his favorite places to play was Nagga’s Hill, where he would run and jump from bone to bone, pretending that he was a mighty reaver and his crew slaying a fearsome sea dragon. His first sister, Valka, was born the year following him. Life at Hammerhorn In the year 271 AA, Qorwyn’s father sent his ten-year-old heir to foster with House Goodbrother at Hammerhorn, where he met the 16-year-old Torgon Goodbrother. Everywhere Torgon went, Qorwyn followed him like a shadow. It was with Torgon that Qorwyn began to learn how to fight and sail. Even though six years his younger, Qorwyn had a natural strength in his limbs that enabled him to compete with the Goodbrother. Qorwyn would stay at Hammerhorn a total of six years, leaving in 277 AA to return to Old Wyk. The very next year, Cotter Goodbrother would be elected as King. A Young Reaver During his time on Hammerhorn, Qorwyn heard little from his father, but was often visited by his uncle, Theon. It was aboard his Uncle Theon’s ship that Qorwyn learned the arts of sailing, reaving, and raiding; as well as his knack for them. Qorwyn quickly rose through the ranks to be his uncle’s first mate. When Qorwyn returned to Old Wyk in 277 AA, he discovered a four-year-old bastard brother, a newborn sister, and Harmund Drumm on his deathbed. Rather than sit vigil as his father wasted away, Qorwyn chose instead to join the crew of his uncles ship and go reaving. In 278 AA, they returned to the Iron Islands for the election of a new king, and to bury Harmund. Lord Reaper of Old Wyk Qorwyn’s first act as the young lord of Old Wyk was to commission a new flagship for his House’s fleet, a fine ship he named Nagga’s Bite. Once it was complete, Qorwyn took his fleet out for a reaving, eventually finding a rich target in the island of Greenstone. He raided the island and killed Lord Armond Estermont. Estermont's son, Allard Estermont, took up the defense and would fatally wound Qorwyn's uncle, Ralf Orkwood. Once his reaving was complete, Qorwyn returned home. In 284 AA, Qorwyn launched another small raiding expedition, finding a potential target in a coastal village not far from Crakehall, seat of House Crakehall. The loot and casualties were both minor, and Qorwyn soon returned to Old Wyk. A Husband, A Father In 280 AA, Qorwyn married Catryn Harlaw. Their first son, Torwyn, was born in 282 AA. This was soon followed by a daughter, Iona, in 283, another son, Harwyn, in 285, and a third son, Dunstan, in 292. During the Great Reaving of 285 AA, Qorwyn claimed Helena Beesbury of the Honeyholt as a salt wife, and in 286 AA, she bore him a son, Regnar Drumm. The Great Reaving of 285 AA In 285 AA, King Cotter Goodbrother led the united strength of the ironborn against the Reach. Qorwyn Drumm and his reavers launched two separate strikes, landing at Blackcrown and Bandallon, quickly defeating the local forces of Lords Bulwer and Blackbar. After the looting was completed, the two separate forces moved inland to join together and descended on the Honeyholt, seat of House Beesbury. Qorwyn didn’t expect that help would arrive so quickly from House Florent of Brightwater Keep and House Hightower of Oldtown, and he found that his reapers couldn’t overcome the combined might of the two. After several skirmishes and one large battle, Qorwyn ordered a retreat back to the shore, burning and raiding what they could along the way. Prized among all the loot that he had taken from the Reach was a young Helena Beesbury, cousin of the Lord of the Honeyholt. He cut a bloody swathe back to the Sunset Sea and returned to the Iron Islands, ships full of loot. However, Qorwyn never forgot that it was the timely arrival of Lords Florent and Hightower that had stalled his invasion, and vowed his revenge. Friends In Unlikely Places A year following the Great Reaving, Qorwyn once again raised his reavers and set out. This time, he rounded the Broken Arm of Dorne and sailed up into the Narrow Sea, finally making for a village not far from Dyre Den, the seat of House Brune. The Drumm reavers hit the village hard and fast, taking many captives. Among the captives was discovered Lord Ambrose Brune of Dyre Den, who had the misfortune of being in the village at the time of the attack. As the new thralls were escorted back to the longships and galleys, Ambrose's demeanor impressed Qorwyn. Even in chains, the lord kept his head high and his spirit light and defiant. Qorwyn began speaking with the man, and by the time they were loaded onto the boats, Qorwyn had found himself warming up to the Lord of Dyre Den. Eventually, a deal was struck. Lord Ambrose would guide to the ironborn to another village a short ways down the coast, and if the plunder was good, he would be released. The village was right where Ambrose said it would be, and the Lord of Dyre Den proved his willingness to help the ironborn by joining them in the attack. As the reavers swarmed through, the loot was even greater than expected. They weren't raiding for long when a small host of soldiers led by Ser Eustace Stokeworth arrived to drive them off. The fighting was intense, with Ser Eustace taking on several ironborn single-handedly before losing a leg to a reaver's axe. Once returned to their ships, Qorwyn, impressed with Ambrose's help during the raiding, fulfilled his end of the bargain and freed him. The two parted as unlikely friends. War of the Trident, 290 AA In 290 AA, word reached Old Wyk that Cotter Goodbrother had fallen ill and would likely soon pass. Knowing that a Kingsmoot would inevitably follow his death, Lord Harlaw had already announced his plans to go reaving in the Riverlands, where he was met by the Princes Brynden and Edmyn Fletcher, along with 500 of their men, slaughtering them. This conflict spiraled as more lords and kings found causes to march to war, and before long, almost all of Westeros was at war. With the majority of the Reach mobilized for war, Qorwyn set out in early 291 AA to finally exact his revenge on Lord Hightower and do the unthinkable: seize Oldtown. Joined by his bastard brother Vickon, now 17 years old, and Tristifer Greyjoy, half-brother of Andrik Greyjoy, the Drumm reavers quickly overwhelmed the defenses of Oldtown. The bloodbath that followed was never fully accounted for, but some estimate that the Ironborn killed as many as 700 innocent people of Oldtown during the looting. Qorwyn himself led a group of reavers to the Starry Sept. Though guarded by members of the Warrior’s Sons and the Poor Fellows, they were not enough to resist the ironborn and the reavers broke into the sept, though not before the High Septon was able to escape. Qorwyn rounded up what septons he could find and drowned them in the harbor as an offering to the Drowned God. After carving his way through the inns and guildhalls on the Honeywine, Lord Stonehouse looted the Sailor’s Sept and the Lord’s Sept and burned the gardens of the Seven Shrines. Lord Goodbrother of Shatterstone led his men to Battle Isle and the Hightower, but seeing that the tower had already been sealed against them, merely posted a guard outside and proceeded to loot the city. A surprising turn of events in the Sack of Oldtown was when Qorwyn discovered his younger sister, Qassana, had hid aboard one of the ships and accompanied the reavers. A thin girl, only ten-and-three years old, Qassana proved herself to be a capable warrior who reveled in slaughtering her enemies up close with one of her favored daggers. As the wealth of the city was being loaded onto their ships, Qorwyn set his eyes on a new prize: the Citadel of the maesters. The doors to the Citadel had been barred shut by the maesters when the Ironborn had arrived, and resisted all their early attempts to break in. Under cover of darkness, and using only a hammer, rope, and pitons, Qorwyn used his superior strength and climbing skills to scale the exterior of the great Citadel and climbed inside through the open window of the chambers of the Seneschal, killing the man as he slept. From inside the Citadel, Qorwyn made his way back down to the first level, easily killing the two novices watching the doors, and opened the way for his reavers. Once inside, the Ironborn began looting everything they could find. Gold, silver, iron, steel, copper, and brass; hundreds of chain links were taken from dead or surrendered maesters. For nearly two weeks, Qorwyn ruled Oldtown from atop the Citadel. He found his way into the histories of the Gardener kings, taking those parchments to use for wiping his ass after taking his shits. On every paper that mentioned King Gwayne Gardener, Qorwyn scratched out his name and wrote ‘King Tit-Licker’ in its place. Finally, having had his fun and looted his fill, Qorwyn left Oldtown and returned to the Iron Islands. A Reaver Triumphant The feasts on Old Wyk lasted for four whole days upon Qorwyn’s return, and he reveled in it. When the party was over, he paid his tribute to the Drowned Men of the island. In response, the Drowned Men took him down to the shores of Nagga’s Cradle and administered the drowning rite. He knelt down in the shallows as the Drowned Man spoke: “Let Qorwyn, your servant, be born again from the sea, as you were. Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel.” Qorwyn spoke the response he had memorized as a child: “What is dead may never die.” With that, the priest shoved Qorwyn under the waves. As the Lord of Old Wyk struggled against his instincts to breathe, the priest continued: “What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.” Qorwyn had never felt something so painful as the drowning. The seawater burned his throat and lungs as he inhaled, and he quickly passed out from the pain. He saw the Drowned God’s watery hall, a throne of bones and a crown of driftwood. The next thing he knew, Qorwyn was awake on the beach, having been brought back by the skills of the Drowned Man. As he staggered to his feet, the small crowd of holy men and smallfolk began to cheer: “What is dead may never die!” In reward for his performance in the Sack of Oldtown, Vickon was granted his own warship, which he named simply Smoke. Qassana was allowed to remain onboard Nagga’s Bite as a reaver. In 296 AA, Qorwyn gathered his forces to go on another reaving. This time, his fleet sailed around the southern edge of Westeros and into the Stepstones, from which they turned back west and found their way to a village near Lemonwood. With the help of Qassana, the ironborn reavers hit the village without losing a single man and fled the scene before any reinforcements from House Dalt arrived. The only witness was a single dying boy who was only able to tell the Lord of Lemonwood that the ships came from the east before he too died. When they returned to Old Wyk, Qorwyn named his sister a captain, and granted her her own warship, The Bloody Bitch. The Raids of Qorwyn Drumm * 275 AA - accompanied his Uncle Theon on a minor raid near Seagard, the seat of House Mallister in the Riverlands. While raiding, they were met with resistance by Lord Oswell Mallister. Theon Drumm fought the Lord of Seagard so the Drumm reavers could escape, wounding him in the process. * 279 AA - on his first reaving following the construction of his flagship, Nagga's Bite, raided the island of Estermont near Greenstone, the seat of House Estermont in the Stormlands. During the raid, Lord Armond Estermont tried to rally men to fight off the reavers, but was killed by Qorwyn. * 284 AA - Qorwyn leads a minor raid near Crakehall in the Westerlands. * 285 AA - During the Great Reaving of 285 AA, started by King Cotter Goodbrother, Qorwyn makes an initial strike at the lands around Bandallon, the seat of House Blackbar, while some of his other forces under the command of Sykregg Stonehouse raid the area near Blackcrown, seat of House Bulwer. * 285 AA - After looting the wealth of Blackbar and Bandallon, the Ironborn move inland and join forces, striking at the area around the Honeyholt, seat of House Beesbury. Qorwyn seizes Helena Beesbury, cousin to Lord Hector Beesbury, and claims her as his salt wife. * 286 AA - After an initial strike at Dyre Den results in the capture of Lord Ambrose Brune, Ambrose leads the ironborn to a lightly defended village near Stokeworth to satisfy his ransom. * 289 AA - Qorwyn sails his galleys around Westeros to raid the shoreline villages near Gulltown. During the raid, the Ironborn are confronted by a small force led by Lord Merion Grafton. During the battle, Tristifer Greyjoy, a member of Qorwyn's crew, manages to slay the Lord of Gulltown. * 291 AA - The War of the Trident. Qorwyn plans and executes the Sacking of Oldtown. * 296 AA - Qorwyn and his men raided a village near Lemonwood, on the eastern coast of Dorne. Recent Events Knowing that King Cotter Goodbrother was soon to be called to the Drowned God’s halls, Lord Qorwyn has remained present on Old Wyk, often in conclave with the Drowned Men, preparing himself for the inevitable Kingsmoot. Category:House Drumm Category:Ironborn